Prison dig may have found the world's earliest church.

[Johnboy60]

A mosaic and the remains of a building uncovered recently in excavations on the Megiddo prison grounds may belong to the earliest church in the world, according to a preliminary examination by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

One of the most dramatic finds suggests that, instead of an altar, a simple table stood in the center of the church, at which a sacred meal was held to commemorate the Last Supper.

Photographs of three Greek inscriptions in the mosaic were sent to Hebrew University expert Professor Leah Di Segni, who told Haaretz yesterday that the use of the term "table" in one of them instead of the word "altar" might lead to a breakthrough in the study of ancient Christianity. It is commonly believed that church rituals based on the Last Supper took place around an altar.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=641814

 

[s_gunter]

Shame on me, but the first thing I thought of was The Exorcist: The Beginning. To anyone who has seen this, they'll understand. To those that haven't, well, I don't wanna be a spoiler....

 

[SallyNow]

You never know where a treasure will turn up...

An earthly rehabilitation centre for criminals being planned on a place that turns out to be right on top of an ancient Church...is there some sort of message to be drawn from this? Or is it just a remininder of the experiences of past generations?

 

[Ave Maria]

Yay! They found possibly the earliest church ever! And of course that church was Catholic too!